19. Quasim
Quasim
I held the ring in my hand as I paced the small room on the yacht. Here I was, in the middle of the damn ocean with the love of my life, and I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t open my fucking mouth to tell her that I loved her. Loved her from the moment I laid eyes on her, prayed for her, and dreamed about her often.
I couldn’t open my mouth to tell her that she scared me because she made me dream again. Made me believe in miracles when I stopped believing in them after losing my daughter. Blair made me see a future with her where I was called daddy again by a small human that was half me and half her.
She did all of that.
She sat across from me in a fancy restaurant with the best view of the house, looking beautiful with red lipstick on, wearing a slip dress that I spent half the dinner imagining slipping off her body. She opened her mouth to tell me that she wanted to have my babies and marry me.
I froze.
She felt comfortable enough to admit that to me, which meant I had made her comfortable in doing so. Blair felt safe with me.
I let her down and the boat ride back to the yacht was a quiet one. As I helped her back onto the yacht, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek before she rushed back to her room. As I paced with this ring in my hand, I felt foolish.
This ring that I held in my hand that I bought from the jeweler on shore. I went to shore alone to walk around and decompress. I was used to being alone, and although the yacht was big enough, I just needed some space. I spent the afternoon walking Capri and popping in and out of small shops. As I walked, I passed a jewelry shop, and the red emerald cut diamond ring caused me to stop in my tracks.
I didn’t come to shore to look for a ring when I wasn’t even in a relationship. The ring remained in the back of my head the whole time we were in Italy. Another morning, I took the boat back to shore and was waiting when the older Italian man opened his shop. He smiled at me because he saw me looking at it from the window last time.
He welcomed me into the shop, offering me espresso as he told me about the ring. He spoke about everything except a damn price. I expected to pay a shit ton of money for it, and I was prepared to.
I asked him if he could customize the ring a bit, and he agreed, showing me the diamonds he could add that would complete my vision.
Anjo was who I saw when I bought this ring. She was who was supposed to wear it, and I froze when she told me that she wanted a future with me.
The loud ass prison alarm brought me back to reality. I watched as the prisoners all made their way out from behind the bars. Goon was talking to somebody and then laughed as he made his way to the table.
I stood up and embraced my brother, because Goon was my brother. “King, what up with you?”
“Maintaining.”
“Something different with you, though… I know you.” He snapped his fingers as I pushed the snacks, I purchased him closer to him.
“I stopped eating this junk… countdown on coming home. Gotta get this body right so I can get my baby.”
I laughed. “Blair is pregnant.”
Goon dropped his head. “Alhamdulillah! Son… man.”
I was slowly telling everybody, and every time I told someone, the response choked me up. It was like they were all praying and waiting for this for me. “I proposed.”
He held his hand out. “Qua, you know more than anything, this is what I wanted for you. B is good people, and she loves the fuck out you. I know we get in our heads and feel like we deserve less… stop that shit. We deserve love, too, so allow her to give that shit to you. How you holding up with the house?”
“Try not to think about it… they ruled it some neighborhood kids starting trouble.”
Goon shook his head. “The neighborhood and the kind of people that live around there, already knew they wasn’t going to care. Half those houses are abandoned over there.”
I didn’t expect anything to come from the investigation because the cops never came to those parts. Shit, I was surprised the fire department came when I called them. Last year, a house a couple blocks over caught fire, and it took them an hour to finally show. They weren’t going to care about it because I wasn’t pushing them to care.
I knew who was responsible and I wanted to handle her myself. “I don’t need to ask how shit going… heard about mutual territory.” He smirked.
“Fuck ‘em.”
“Let they mutha love ‘em.”
“Or take they mutha from ‘em.” I finished our quote.
Goon laughed and held his hand out. “King’s fucking back.”
I looked around the room and then looked at Goon. “What’s going on? I know you didn’t call me up here to catch up.”
“Actually, I fucking did… need to know how my boy doing. Yo ass be lying about how you doing.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
He laughed and then his expression became serious. “That accident with your parents wasn’t an accident… they fucked with their brakes.”
I leaned forward. “Stop fucking with me, G.”
“Deadass, King. They wanted to take out Papa first, then your brother before coming to you. Red… he’s behind the shit.”
I never needed to know how information got back to Goon in prison. Being in prison was like being locked in a telephone communication company. Word always traveled fast in here.
“His cousin in here… another Del Devil.” He leaned forward and kept his head on a swivel. “Be running his fucking mouth way too much. You ain’t believe that truce with CVs?”
“Nah. Can’t ever trust a snake.”
“Only allow a snake to get close to you if you wearing it.”
“Facts.”
“Tookie is going to come for Queen. Polo wants to see everything gone when it comes to us. Red been hating for years and he finally let that shit fuel him to come after his brother.”
“Appreciate it, G.”
“Never have to mention it… the shit they did with mini–Lady Inferno and my God daughter had me beating niggas up in here… got sent to the hole for a week.”
“Shit fucked me up… trust I’m gonna handle shit.”
“Never doubted that you would.”
“Chill the fuck out in here, G. The goal is for you to come home… how the fuck you gonna go after Zoya if you getting more time tacked on.”
He laughed. “I hear you.”
I stayed and talked with Goon for a minute longer before the visit was over. Walking to my car, my phone buzzed, and I saw a text message from Forty.
40: Meet here.
40: *pinned location*
I pulled up to a warehouse in Mount Vernon that Forty sent the location to. When he sent the message, I memorized it because I knew it would disappear off my phone. Killing my engine, I hopped off my bike and walked around back. Keeping watch, I knocked on the metal door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and I was granted access into the warehouse.
Security stood there looking at me just like I was looking at him. I didn’t give a fuck that he had me in height and weight. “Don’t touch me.”
“He’s straight.” I looked over and Devon came from the back, dressed down from his usual suit and tie.
I walked over toward him and dapped him. “What’s good?”
“Hanging in there… you straight?”
“Always.”
Following behind Devon, he took me to the full warehouse space, where Core was leaned back in a chair, Skyler and Aimee seated next to him.
“What up, Core?” I walked over and dapped him before hugging Aimee and Skyler.
“Ain’t shit but the sky,” He responded.
Aimee looked up briefly from her computer. “Hey Sim… where’s our girl?”
“Probably planning the wedding… or looking for a new studio space.” I laughed, because those seemed to be the topics that Anjo had been interested in lately.
The studio was closed for the time being because I didn’t want her back over there. Syn had been staying at the house while they did classes over zoom for their clients. When she wasn’t on the back porch doing video classes, she and Syn were looking for the perfect space. Pyro wanted to eat the damn bird, and if I heard squawking one more time, I was gonna fry that damn bird myself.
Lately, Anjo had been talking about wanting to move the studio out the city. It was her world, and my pockets were going to pay for whatever she wanted. I wanted her to be happy, and whatever she wanted made me happy.
The other night, she kept me and Capri both up, talking about the wedding. She already knew it was going to happen on the beach, and that wasn’t because of me. Both Gams and Blaze damn near threatened us and told us it couldn’t be anywhere else.
Fucking Delgatos done started this tradition, and then Blaze went and bought a damn beach house that connected, making sure we kept the tradition going for Capri.
“What up, King?” I looked over and saw Forty walking over with a Chinese food container. “My bad. I haven’t ate shit all day… paperwork is up to my fucking ears.”
I hit the IG shake with him. “What’s going on, Forty?”
“I don’t give a fuck, Sug… you tell me. The last time you met with a bitch named Parker… we had to handle that shit. I don’t fucking trust her.” Blaze’s loud ass voice boomed through the warehouse as Capri walked ahead of him.
She must have come straight from work because she was still dressed in a suit and heels. “I can handle myself and what did you want me to do? Tell her to get the fuck out of my office?”
“Thanks for holding the fucking door,” Capone hollered behind them both with his brother and Capella following behind him.
Capella went over and kissed his wife and then sat down next to her. “Baby doll, he’s not wrong… you need to be careful.” Cappadonna told his sister.
Capri spun around on her lucky heels and looked at her brothers and husband. “I have cases out the fucking ass… busy going back and forth with what happened in our home, along with finally proving it wasn’t excessive force. I am stretched fucking thin so both of you leave me the fuck alone.” She mushed her husband and shoved past her brothers and took a seat.
“She just mushed me?” Blaze’s dumb ass had the nerve to ask like he didn’t witness and feel her do the shit to him.
“And did!” Capri hollered.
Between these two arguing about whatever was going on, and Forty smacking on the chicken in my ear, I was about to lose my shit if somebody didn’t tell me what the fuck was going on.
Berkeley: Hey. Get back to me when you can.
I looked at the message not knowing why Berks kept fucking hitting me up. She wasn’t hitting me up like she wanted to fuck with me. It seemed like she had something to tell me.
Me: Where you wanna meet up?
I looked up from my phone. “After you told me to look into something for you, I went down a rabbit hole of all the cases that Rich dismissed, that had Morgan tied to them.” Capri started as she pulled a file out of her work bag. “Me and Skyler spent three days going over these cases, and those sexual assault cases weren’t just sexual assault cases.”
Morgan had a sexual assault case that was dismissed. However, after being done dirty, we were able to release everything, so the public knew what the fuck was going on with his sick ass. It seemed like every time we tried to claw our way up out of the messy shit with these people, we were pulled back.
“What you trying to say?” I finally took a seat and paid attention to my sister as she leaned back in the chair.
“Lucia Parker, Rich’s wife, was very much involved in what he was into.” She looked over at Aimee.
“Thea Armstrong is her full name, and she’s from a small town in Minnesota. The bitch has a rap sheet as long as my body… she’s a career criminal, always in and out of something for money.”
“She was straight, though. When she first moved into that house, she used to leave and head to work. Elijah wasn’t in perfect condition, but he wasn’t neglected like how she had him before I started taking care of him.”
Skyler looked up from her computer. “She was going somewhere alright… ever heard of egg farming?”
“Nah.”
Skyler looked to Corleon to further explain. “Rich and Morgan were involved in egg farming… basically, mass collection of women’s eggs. The shit isn’t legal or ethical but brings in big fucking money. They promise these girls from small ass towns a nice life here in New York as nannies and then enslave them for their eggs.” Core kissed Skyler’s temple as he closed his eyes. “The shit I fucking discovered makes me sick and makes me wanna beat that bitch’s ass, because how could you, as a fucking woman, do that to other women?” He started going off, and Skyler held his hand.
“What bitch?”
“Lucia Parker?”
“My best friend, huh?” I was going to kill that bitch so hard that I might fucking pop a bottle and smoke a cigarette when I was done.
“That woman that accused him of sexual assault wasn’t just sexually assaulted… she was one of the girls they were using, and she happened to get away.” Capri continued.
“Why did she only admit to sexual assault and not the fact that they were fucking taking her eggs from her?”
“She told them about what happened to her… Lucia was the detective on the case.” Corleon replied. “Wasn’t even her precinct or her unit and she was allowed in that room. There’s a lot of people connected to this shit.”
Aimee played something from her computer as we all sat in silence. “ They’re using us for our eggs. I came on a greyhound from Michigan, and they took me to this beautiful home… a beautiful home I never fucking left. I’m in pain daily from what they did to me there and there are other girls there! Vincent Morgan, he raped me.” The girl was hysterical on the tape.
“He sexually assaulted you ?” I recognized Lucia’s voice.
“Shit goes on with her gaslighting her and because she can’t ignore her claims, she got her to believe it was sexual assault, which is why that was the case that went to Rich.”
“And the one that was thrown out in my face.” Capri took a deep breath.
Aimee leaned up. “Thea came here with a promise of making big money, and that plan failed. I don’t know how she ended up leaving with her life, or why she and Lucia are so close. I do know that Elijah is her son, and his father is Rich Parker.”
The entire room was quiet as we all digested what she had just said to us.
“Fuck,” Cappadonna whistled, breaking the silence, we all had found ourselves in.
“Sim, you straight?” Corleon asked.
“Why did he tell Blair that she wasn’t his mother?”
Skyler leaned forward. “It’s a trauma response. Children can dissociate and claim their parent isn’t their parent. It’s a response to trauma he may have experienced or stress. Quasim, get him therapy because the things….” Her voice cracked, as Corleon pulled her into him. “I was a psychology major before I switched my major.”
“All I’m saying is he was fucking abused and she let the shit happen. Your house being set on fire is because you got Elijah, and he knows something they don’t want anyone else to know.” Corleon replied.
“This shit is deeper than us, and as much as we think we can handle everything… We can't handle this shit alone. It’s a lot of inner-workings, and big names that are involved. What we do know is that little boy is important to them, because they tried to kill him in that fire.” Forty said, as he sat his empty Chinese container on the table.
I rested back in the chair as my thoughts raced through my head. “He’s Rich’s son for sure?”
“Think that was the reason she was kept alive… Rich kept her alive.” Aimee said.
“He fell in love with her,” Blaze said.
I looked at him and agreed. “How do you know that?” Aimee questioned.
“He’s a lover boy. Was in love with Cherie and would have done anything to be with her. I’m not surprised he fell in love with Thea.”
“Which would explain why Lucia and Thea are so close… not by choice.” Capone leaned back and rubbed his temples.
“Capo, you good?” Cappadonna asked.
He waved his brother off and leaned back in his chair. “My house was burned to the ground because they wanted Elijah dead… she mentioned some friend in Phoenix, don’t know if that helps.”
“Nah, anything is good. She’s going to turn up, and soon as she does, I’ll let you handle it.” Corleon said.
A loud crash sounded through the warehouse, and we all grabbed our guns, ready to air some shit out. “Capone! Fuck, Capo!” Cappadonna hollered.
Capone had fallen out the chair onto the floor and was having a seizure. “Put him on his side.” I jumped up and we all positioned him onto his side as he shook out of control.
“Loosen his shirt.” Capri jumped up, and unbuttoned the top of her brother’s shirt, as she used her bag to protect his head.
She removed her heels and sat next to Cappadonna on the floor. He stopped shaking as much, and Capri sat there. “Capone, it’s Pri… you just had a seizure. Lay here for a second.”
This shit was fucking with me because I never seen Capone like this. He was disoriented and was looking confused. Cappadonna held his brother’s hand as he remained on his side, resting on his sister’s bag.
Capri took a deep breath. “He’s been having seizures since he was a child. I’ve watched mommy sit with him through one for years. I hate to think of how many countless ones he’s had alone.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I have to call Erin.”
“I got it, Capri,” Aimee jumped to action.
“No hospital... my hospital. Tell CJ I’m good.” He was slightly confused, his voice sounded muffled, and he had a spaced-out look.
“You cold, Capo?” Cappadonna asked him.
“A little.”
He was trembling like we were in a freezer. “We going to the hospital… tell Erin to meet us there.” Cappadonna told Aimee.
Capone knew better than to argue with his brother. He allowed them to help him up, making sure he was stable on his feet, but not allowing him to walk alone. “Fill me in on everything… I gotta get my brother to the hospital.” I could hear the emotion in Cappadonna’s voice.
It was the same emotion that could be heard in any of our voices when it came to your sibling. “I’m coming,” Capri grabbed her heels and bag to chase behind her brothers.
I nodded and Meer left behind her.
We all sat in silence. “That was so scary… I’ve never seen Capone like that before. God.” Aimee held her chest, and Capella pulled her into him and kissed her head. “It hits different because that could be you, baby.”
He held her while kissing her head, because the truth of the matter was that Capella had sickle cell, and he was epileptic. “Don’t even think about that, Grasshopper. Capone is strong, and he gonna be straight… you alright, baby?”
She shook her head no, and he comforted her. “Anything new, I’m gonna update you.”
Forty and Devon both remained silent. “I can’t even fucking focus.”
“To be expected.” Devon leaned on the table. “Elijah is Rich’s son… does that change things?”
I looked at Devon. “Elijah is my fucking son. He was fucking neglected before I even killed Rich… some fucking father. Nothing changes, he’s an Inferno. I need to know where that junkie is because I’m gonna snap her fucking neck with my bare hands.”
Corleon dug into Skyler’s bag and tossed the thick envelope onto the table. “All new documents for him with Inferno as his last name. They’re legal, too… what I did to get it done and switched into the system wasn’t legal.”
I grabbed the envelope. “Appreciate you.”
“Never mention it.”
Forty looked at me. “Lucia is the puppet master and Thea is the puppet. She got her doing her dirty work… why? We may never know. You cannot go after her now, King. Let her sit and handle your other pressing issues with Polo.”
“I hear you.” I replied and got ready to bounce.
They sat me down and crammed a bunch of fucking information down my throat, and I didn’t know how to process that shit right now. I was ready to go home to my Anjo and Elijah.
God was funny.
I send his biological pops to hell, and He sends me his son to care for and love. Funny how shit worked out.